Nora wins our £50,000 prize

SPARE time is at a premium in the Naughton household. Nora Naughton combines marriage and looking after her two small children with running her own company, which manages medical and business books from manuscript to publication.

She is going to be even busier after winning this year's Financial Mail on Sunday MBA scholarship, run by the prestigious Henley Management College at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.

Nora, 48, from Strood, Kent, hopes the business qualification will improve her ability to run her own enterprise. She also thinks it will help her to train her freelance staff to enjoy a better work-life balance.

'I hope to bring new knowledge back into the business and improve my strategic thinking so that I can enable other people to benefit from flexible working,' she says.

It was this view that set her apart from the other entrants for the part-time two-year scholarship, worth £27,000, plus a further £5,000 from Financial Mail towards the cost of books and accommodation. Candidates had to write an essay on how traditional business networks affected women's careers and whether women needed their own specific networking groups.

Professor Jane McKenzie, director of the executive MBA programme at Henley, says: 'Nora did some primary research and was objective, arguing both the pros and the cons of women's networking rather than advocating a singular position.

'She is very concerned for her employees and has undoubtedly done her bit to help other women.'

The average MBA salary is £66,500 and 70% of graduates become board directors or senior managers.